Thread: Upcoming Patch 3.0.3, Blue Posts

Patch 3.0.3 to be released soon
Tigole made an interesting reply to a post pointing out issues with Hallow's End achievements. It definitely confirms that Patch 3.0.3 will be deployed on live servers before WotLK (except if something goes wrong, you never know), and probably during Hallow's end (October 18th to November 2nd).

Originally Posted by Tigole (Blue Tracker)

" meta-achievement. This will go live in 3.0.3

3.0.3 will most likely happen during the event.

If you happen to fulfill all of the criteria with the exception of the 20 mask criteria before that patch goes live the achievement will stay incomplete until the day patch 3.0.3 goes live. As soon as the patch goes live, you'll have the achievement as well as the title.

Now the question is ... What's going to be in the next update ? Classes changes probably, a lot of them.

Below is a temporary and non-official list of what we MIGHT see in this patch (but some of these changes might just be in the expansion, that's why you've got a few of them for Death Knights here). This is a compilation of blue posts made over 2 weeks, some of these changes might already be in game, and some of them have most likely been changed again since the original post. Please don't jump to conclusions based on this list, developers are working a lot on balancing and things are changing very fast.

If I missed any update, or if some of these changes are already on live servers please report them in comments.

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Death Knight (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9061))

• Frigid Dreadplate - We rewrote the spell and the tooltip to be simpler and less confusing. It's now just 1/2/3% less chance to be melee hit. (Source)
• Tundra Stalker buffs Obliterate and Howling Blast. Adds double expertise. (Source)
• Acclimation buffs Rune Strike (in addition to its normal effects). (Source)
• Crypt Fever down to 10/20/30%. (Source)
• And the big one... when you miss, your runes activate in 1 sec instead of 2. This makes misses, dodges and parries a lot less painful. (Source)

Druid (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9061))

• Survival Instinct is off the GCD now. (Source)
• Update on Eclipse. Here is how we changed the talent. It now has a longer cooldown (40 sec) and a shorter duration (10 sec) but the effects on Wrath and Starfire are doubled. It is overall a buff to the damage to justify the proc-watching aspect. We also hope the longer cooldown and shorter duration will mean it takes less of your bandwidth to do so. (Source)
• Moonfury and Earth and Moon down to 3 ranks from 5, but keeping the same overall benefit. That buys you 4 extra talent points to get more utility or fun talents. (Source)
• We're going to leave the Starfire glyph as is for now, since one of the reasons we added it was to buy you back some brain time if you were watching Eclipse too much. (Source)
• The treant health is still something on the list to look at too. I suspect it just hasn't scaled well. (Source)

Hunter (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9061))

• Aspects are now off the GCD. It's true. There will still be a 1 sec cooldown to switch from one aspect to another. (Source)
• Monkey and Dragonhawk offer 18% dodge now. (Source)
• Instead of getting new ranks of Hawk at level 75 and 80, you now get the new Aspect of the Dragonhawk. This powerful aspect combines all of the effects of Hawk and Monkey. Any talent or glyph that affects either Hawk or Monkey also affects Dragonhawk the same way. The idea is that you retire Hawk and Monkey at level 75 and go to essentially two Aspects: Dragonhawk for combat and Viper for mana regen. (Source)
• Ferocious Inspirations is supposed to be raid-wide (Source)
• Here is the actual Viper change we're going to implement: The per attack mana regeneration has been reduced by 50% but it now generates 4% of maximum mana every 3 sec. In addition, the per attack regeneration now also works on melee attacks. (Source)
• We probably are going to let Barrage affect Aimed Shot. We looked at Explosive Shot again and its damage seemed like a significant increase over Arcane Shot, but if Survival ends up low, then Explosive is probably where we'll try to make up the difference. (Source)

Mage (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9061))

• We think mages are still having mana problems and don't want to reduce Evocation's cooldown anymore. Nor do we want to buff mage armor too much more or using e.g. molten armor seems pointless. Instead, we reduced the mana cost on Fireball, Frostbolt, Frostfire Bolt, Arcane Blast, Arcane Missiles, and Arcane Explosion. (Source)
• However, we do think the mana cost on Living Bomb is too high, and we'll be lowering it to something more like Arcane Explosion. (Source)

Paladin (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9061))

• Art of War -- now affects all damage done by Judgements, Crusader Strike and Divine Storm (instead of critical strike damage). Net dps should be about the same but less bursty. This change will be made before Nov 13. (Source)
• Righteous Vengeance -- now applies a dot affect similar to Deep Wounds (instead of critical strike damage). This ends up being a significant buff to the ability to make up for the damage lost to Divine Storm, but is also less bursty. This change will be made before Nov 13. EDIT: The dot will NOT break Repentance. (Source)
• Glyph of Crusader Strike -- now reduces mana cost (instead of increased damage on stunned targets.) We thought paladins could stack too much damage vs. stunned targets. This change will be made before Nov 13. (Source)
• We also fixed a bug with Seal and Judgement of Light that could sometimes result in too much healing. (Source)
• To be consistent with stances, presences and aspects, paladin auras are now off of the GCD with a 1 sec cooldown. (Source)
• Righteous Defense -- cooldown lowered to 8 sec. It had been 10 sec recently and is 15 sec on live. (Source)
• Infusion of Light -- now affects Flash of Light or Holy Light. Flash of Light is reduced to 0 cast time with 2 ranks, meaning that if you're running around and get a Holy Shock crit, you can also Flash without stopping. (Source)
• Judgements of the Pure -- haste benefit now up to 15% with 5 ranks (was 10%). (Source)
• Enlightened Judgements -- range benefit is now 30 yards with 2 ranks (was 20). This means you can judge or heal from the same range without having to run around so much. (Source)

Priest (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9061))

• Divine Providence now also reduces the cooldown of Prayer of Mending by 6/12/18/24/30%. With 5 points, it takes PoM from 10 to 7 sec cooldown. (Source)
• Vampiric Embrace -- we need to nerf it, but we don't want it to be terrible for priests in small groups or solo. So we are going to make it 5% healing to your group (not raid) but 25% healing to yourself. Assume the talents that affect it get it up to this level. (Source)
• Vampiric Touch -- we're adding some of the damage adjustment to this spell, by doubling the coefficient (from 0.2 to 0.4). (Source)
• Shadowform -- we're adding the rest of the adjustment here. Your Shadow Word: Pain, Devouring Plague and Vampiric Touch do an additional percentage damage equal to your critical strike chance. Basically if your crit is 25%, your SW:P does 25% more damage. This has the side effect of making crit a little more useful for Shadow priests. (Source)
• It's dumb that so many of your abilities don't work on vehicles. We'll try to get that fixed. To clarify, magical shadow damage over time effects will work on vehicles. For example, corruption, shadow word pain, vt, and mind flay (although the vehicle's movement won't be slowed by the mind flay). (Source)
• We increased the damage coefficient of Devouring Plague to be similar to other damage over time spells. We also lowered the base damage on ranks 7, 8, and 9 to partially compensate for better scaling. (Source)

Rogue (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9061))

• We are going to make a change to Shadow Dance to keep the basic functionality but make the UI ramifications easier. Ideally we'll just let you use the stealth bar. This is a slightly complicated change so it might take some time. In the short term, we are going to make another change. Shadow Dance will no longer increase the cooldown on abilities that can be used only while stealthed. If you have the energy to Ambush three times in a row, go for it. (Source)

Shaman (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9061))

• Update on Lava Burst. We ended up buffing the damage by about 10%. You should now have a lot motivation to use it and Flame Shock once you hit level 75. Lightning Bolt isn't going anywhere so you still have your old standby, particularly for 3.0.2 and until you gain a few levels. (Source)
• Tidal Waves -- Riptide now also procs this effect. (Source)
• Tidal Waves -- It was changed to get 2 charges. (Source)
• Riptide -- We're going to increase the initial healing component. (Source)
• Storm Reach -- now called “Elemental Reach” and includes Lava Burst. (Source)
• Improved Fire Nova Totem - Increases the damage done by your Fire Nova Totem by 10/20%, and your Fire Nova totem has a 50/100% chance to stun all targets damaged by your Fire Nova Totem for 2 sec. (Source)
• Thunderstorm -- We will probably boost the mana return to 8% of total mana. That seems more in line with similar effects. We talked a lot about buffing its damage, but decided that may not be a good idea. With its short range, it isn't a great rotational spell for a raiding Elemental shamans, and making you run up to hit a boss and run back is giving up a lot of cast time. Instead we're going to try to keep the damage and knockback more situational (in PvP it will get used a lot) and make the mana return the big PvE raiding focus. (Source)
• Maelstrom Weapon -- We have a concern that the proc per minute frequency is too often. According to our numbers, it's balanced for a two-handed weapon and a bit generous for a dual-wielder. However, this would be a nerf to Enhancement dps overall that we'd have to make up elsewhere, and it seems to be a fun change shamans are enjoying. So we're going to let this ride for now. It's something to keep an eye on, but we aren't going to change it yet. (Source)
• Lava Burst and Lightning Bolt -- And now for a few words on Elemental damage. One of the things we were trying to do to make Elemental dps more interesting was to have a Lava Burst + Flameshock variant. We also themed some new deep talents to support this play style. The problem is that lightning still seems to do more damage than fire, which in turn makes the new talents feel lame because they benefit fire and not lightning. (Source)

Warlock (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9061))

• The Felguard magic damage reduction now extends to Holy. I believe this was hotfixed yesterday. (Source)
• Shadowflame -- We ultimately decided to keep the cone and the dot component, but just the damage. We compared Shadowflame's damage to Cone of Cold, but the latter benefits from a pretty sweet talent and is arguably a little weak-feeling without the talent. Shadowflame has no equivalent talent, so we buffed its damage by about 75%. (Source)
• Haunt -- In order to give you a wider window in which to renew the spell, we lowered the cooldown to 8 sec. Refreshing Haunt will also trigger the heal from the existing Haunt, so clipping your previous one won't be as big a problem. (Source)

Warrior (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9061))

• We are going to change Sudden Death to be based on a chance per hit and not a chance per crit. That shouldn't adversely affect their dps, but will also hopefully keep them from stacking nothing but crit. We do want to see warriors with swords and maces after all. (Source)
• We are lowering the cooldown on Bloodthirst to 5 sec (from 6) and lowering the penalty on Titan's Grip to 12% (from 15%). Our hope is that with more BTs and more yellow hits connecting that the excess rage will drain away. The net dps increase will also help Fury catch up to Arms. (Source)

Blue posts

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

New Glyphs
We're going to be adding more glyphs over time, especially for new spells, most of which don't have glyphs yet. (Source)

AV Daily Quest completion
This is an issue currently affecting the Alterac Valley PvP daily about which we are aware and working to resolve. (Source)

Hunter (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9061))
Core Hound screen shaking effect
We are going to disable the screen shake once the pet is tamed. (Source)

AoTM / AotH efficiency with Dragonhawk Aspect
They are not being reduced in any way, shape or form. The idea is that you no longer ever need to go into Monkey or Hawk at high level. Now, of course that could change if hunters end up being too good for some reason. But we have no upcoming plans to nerf it.

Aspect of the Monkey Dodge % increase
Monkey and Dragonhawk offer 18% dodge now. (Source)

Mage (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9061))
Living Bomb
We still like Living Bomb. We realize not everyone does, and that's cool. Not every spell or ability in the game is going to appeal to everyone and players are constantly re-designing spells into something they'd rather see. However, we do think the mana cost on Living Bomb is too high, and we'll be lowering it to something more like Arcane Explosion. (Source)

Shaman (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9061))
Tidal Waves / Riptide
It was changed to get 2 charges. The Riptide design is still as I stated. You should get these changes sometime between now and Nov 13. (Source)

HTML Code:

<script src="http://www.wowhead.com/widgets/power.js"></script>

Sudden Death seems so fun in its current state: charge -> autoswing -> execute -> NEXT!

But what about the Prayer of Mending sound getting stuck? >_<
It's killing me.

so much about the blizzard's "all tanks are equally viable". Looks like that paladin tanks are still with only 6% dmg reduction vs 10-12% dmg reduction of other tanks. Could it be that Ghostcrawler said paladins will have another 3% dmg reduction in Shield of the Templar just to make protadins shut up?

Could it be that some tank classes will be more equal than other? What are paladins going to do after the retri is nerfed when the expansion comes out? Heal? Holy is broken now!

Originally Posted by bbr

Yaaaaayyyy. :P
Lightning reflexes, relentless strikes, murder spree changes? At last? Could it be true?

Nope... you will be forever stuck in the abyss of mediocrity. Ahh nothing is more fun than crushing the hopes and dreams of rogues ;D.

Originally Posted by bbr

* Some druid spells : feral charge / mangle, have 2 icons : 1 for bear 1 for cat. It'd be a lot easier for my button-bars if these could simply be MERGED somehow, and dynamically change based on your form. Same with Faery fire, which has 3 buttons to do the exact same thing...

Quite odd that you list it under bugs... especially since Mangle and Faerie Fire have always been two completely separate abilities. Also, the fact that your bars swap when you switch forms just makes this a silly request. It's not like you should ever have Mangle (Cat) and Mangle (Bear) beside each other o_O.

I laugh at the fact GC says they like Living Bomb and so do the mages.

Take a look at the forums man. LB is complete and utter junk.

A PTR can't necessarily reproduce every issue. In this case, I believe Blizzard said the issue spawned from too much stress on the server from the achievements being achieved and the mounts and pets being learned. As much as the PTR can be chock full of people, it doesn't guarantee the same stress as all of the live realms combined.

Originally Posted by bbr

Still annoying, we got 7 buttons for a total of 3 actions which are basically the same.
You'd have the option to use those buttons in other places in the interface.

But you get separate bars for each form... I really don't see why this matters? I have a feral druid and I've never had an issue with Mangle or Faerie Fire (Feral) taking up too much room. Although, FF goes on a non-changing bar that sits above my main bar and chances are you will almost never use normal Faerie Fire (although mine sits up on the second bar on the top right corner just in case :P).

Originally Posted by bbr

Also, if aspect of the dragonhawk gives the same dodge as aspect of the monkey....
might as well remove aspect of the monkey completely then...

Because you won't get it until level 75. The worst you can do is remove Hawk and Monkey from your bars at that point or hope your add-on writers remove Hawk and Monkey from aspect bars when they see you have Dragonhawk.

Does anyone know if this change means that Paladin auras work as a stance with regards to macros?

To clarify, Warriors can make macros similar to the below:
#showtooltip [nostance:2,combat]Attack; [stance:2,target=player]Attack;
/cast [stance:1,nocombat]Charge; [stance:2,target=targettarget,party,nodead]Taunt
/startattack

Previously this didn't work for Paladin auras, but it did work for Druid shapeshifting.

Wait! Why will there be an update do Death Knight on a patch where Death Knights haven't been released yet?

Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment

Hunter (Skills List / Talent Calc. (9061))
Core Hound screen shaking effect
We are going to disable the screen shake once the pet is tamed. (Source)

Nooooo!!! I like my big bad little Kurken!! Now he won't be as badass.

Originally Posted by bbr

I'd kinda fun tho, i need more alts >P

Heh, my Druid is my last alt to finish up right now (he's 64) and I just can't do it anymore . I was having fun playing him for a bit (I played a rogue for almost all of vanilla WoW), but when I got beta and started playing a Death Knight, well... Druid just is no longer that fun (neither are most classes in comparison). I'm actually thinking about turning my Druid into a Boomkin (going 45/0/16 at 70) and leveling him with my Death Knight (I use three accounts) once he hits 70. It'd kind of be like my other combos (Shaman+Mage, Paladin+Warlock and Warrior+Priest).